Best free eBook reader

[paroots]

Just purchased the Hisense Sero 7 Pro tablet. So far it seems very nice. Now I need to select the best eBook reader. Here are some of my important criteria:
1. Reads ePub
2. Reads mobi
3. Accesses online free eBooks
4. Adequate display options (eg, portrait/landscape, font size, brightness, etc)

The reason for #1 and 2 is that I've inherited quite a few eBooks with those formats. So far I've looked at: Cool Reader, FBReader, Moon+, Kindle for Android, and iReader. Am I missing others? Thanks
Pete

 

[Petrah]

Download Calibre to your PC and you can change most any format to most any format for what ever reader you have. The software does a lot more than that, but that's one of it's major highlights. Calibre is also free.

Calibre E-Book Management

 

[paroots]

Download Calibre to your PC and you can change most any format to most any format for what ever reader you have. The software does a lot more than that, but that's one of it's major highlights. Calibre is also free.

Calibre E-Book Management

Thanks. I've read about Calibre and have avoided it to keep things simple. Of course, if I was missing out on some especially nice eBook reader because it didn't support ePub or mobi that might be an incentive to use it.

The other reason is that I also have a Kindle (the Hisense is actually my wife's) and it reads the mobi format. Any thoughts?
Pete

 

[Petrah]

I have the Paperwhite and love it! My boyfriends sister in law gave me 2 CD's full of books in different formats, and told me about Calibre. I think of Calibre as a librarian.. it keeps track of my books, allows me to swap formats on the fly if needed (it also emails books to my kindle email address), and allows me to edit meta tags (sometimes a series isn't marked as a series etc.).

Trust me, once you learn how to use Calibre, e-book management could never be more simple.

As for readers for the phone, I've only ever tried the Kindle app. I didn't use it for long though because I just carry my Paperwhite in my purse.

 

[chanchan05]

I prefer Mantano Reader but it doesn't have free books access. Although you can use Aldiko to get free books and import them to mantano. If aldiko is good enough for you , there is that.

 

[jefboyardee]

Wattpad offers free material, for droid and PC, and you can publish your own material. The downside is you get what you pay for; a lot of wannabes writing novels.

 

[Dngrsone]

I use Cool Reader. It does EPUB and MOBI. I have a lot of books formatted in ePub due to my using a Palm T|X for ever.

 

[Harry2]

Have a look at Moon+ Reader again it does all that what you want.

Harry

 

[paroots]

I have the Paperwhite and love it! My boyfriends sister in law gave me 2 CD's full of books in different formats, and told me about Calibre. I think of Calibre as a librarian.. it keeps track of my books, allows me to swap formats on the fly if needed (it also emails books to my kindle email address), and allows me to edit meta tags (sometimes a series isn't marked as a series etc.).

Trust me, once you learn how to use Calibre, e-book management could never be more simple.

As for readers for the phone, I've only ever tried the Kindle app. I didn't use it for long though because I just carry my Paperwhite in my purse.

Thanks. I mostly use my older Kindle Keyboard and have enough mobi eBooks to keep me satisfied. The Android tablet is my wife's so she needs an Android eBook reader.

I've narrowed down my selection to Cool Reader, FBReader, and Moon+. Of course, I'm only looking at those apps that support mobi and ePub. I've put Moon+ in last place for the following reasons (which may not be all that important in the final analysis):

1. No built-in manual (like Cool Reader)
2. Advertising in free version (unlike FBReader and Cool Reader)
3. No 2 column support in landscape (like FBReader and Cool Reader)
4. No local dictionary support (like FBReader and Cool Reader)

Basically, I've found the 3 apps to be so similar I've had to resort to nit-picking to distinguish between them. So far I'm leaning towards Cool Reader because it has the most extensive dictionary support, most extensive online network of eBooks and is the only one of the 3 with a built-in manual. I would be interested in hearing any reasons, pro or con, that I may not have thought of.
Pete

 

[paroots]

Have a look at Moon+ Reader again it does all that what you want.

Harry

Thanks. See my post #9 about Moon+ evaluation. I would enjoy your feedback
Pete

 

[paroots]

I use Cool Reader. It does EPUB and MOBI. I have a lot of books formatted in ePub due to my using a Palm T|X for ever.

Thanks. As I stated in post #9, Cool Reader has edged out FBReader by a hair in my evaluation thus far. I really like it although I found it very similar to FBReader in most respects. Cool Reader has a ton of options and as a newbie I appreciate the built-in manual.
Pete

 

[antagonist356]

cool reader here, never found a book it couldnt read, and i do alot of reading.

 

[chanchan05]

cool reader here, never found a book it couldnt read, and i do alot of reading.

It renders medical textbooks horribly.

 

[Dngrsone]

One problem I have with Calibre is that it is slow.

I don't like the way that Calibre copies all your books into its own filing system, using its own indexing, naming conventions, etc.

I can also gripe that conversions aren't always smooth, but realistically I know there are dozens of ways formatting can go wrong.

Besides which, the publishers aren't all that concerned about making their e-books look pretty, much to my consternation.

 

[Harry2]

Thanks. See my post #9 about Moon+ evaluation. I would enjoy your feedback
Pete

Well, my experience with Cool Reader and FBReader is a little outdated, so I will not comment about these
Since then I have Moon+ (Pro) installed ...

#3. No 2 column support ... you mean two pages of the book?
Both with ePub and mobi books two pages are be shown.

#4. No local dictionary support ...
I'd choose four offline dictionaries at least, with ePub and mobi books.
... but not my PONS, do you mean a dictionary like this?

So, it might be Pro features or it might be a thing of the chosen eBooks.

Harry

 

[paroots]

Well, my experience with Cool Reader and FBReader is a little outdated, so I will not comment about these
Since then I have Moon+ (Pro) installed ...

#3. No 2 column support ... you mean two pages of the book?
Both with ePub and mobi books two pages are be shown.

#4. No local dictionary support ...
I'd choose four offline dictionaries at least, with ePub and mobi books.
... but not my PONS, do you mean a dictionary like this?

So, it might be Pro features or it might be a thing of the chosen eBooks.

Harry

Thanks. With your prompting, I did find the 1 and 2 column support while in landscape mode. With respect to dictionary support, Cool Reader and FBReader access local dictionaries, such as ColorDict 3, that can be installed via the Play store. This means the feature works with our without internet access. Again with your prompting, I discovered that Moon+ offers 4 local and 2 online dictionaries. Guess the only remaining Cons of Moon+ are the lack of built-in manual and advertising in the free version. I still put it in 3rd place unless some features surface that I'm not yet aware of.
Pete

 

[paroots]

cool reader here, never found a book it couldnt read, and i do alot of reading.

Thanks. That sure sounds simple since no conversions required
Pete

 

[paroots]

It renders medical textbooks horribly.

Interesting. Not that I read medical books, but I'm curious, what eReader does a better job?
Pete

 

[chanchan05]

Interesting. Not that I read medical books, but I'm curious, what eReader does a better job?
Pete

These are CHM files, so I tried SuperCHM. Not very well known but surprised me with how good it is at rendering. Not even MoonReader were able to render my books properly, but this one does it with no issues and is faster than Moon or Cool. For Epub I use Mantano because of the collection features and the sort by series option which I have yet to find in any other reader app.

 

[paroots]

These are CHM files, so I tried SuperCHM. Not very well known but surprised me with how good it is at rendering. Not even MoonReader were able to render my books properly, but this one does it with no issues and is faster than Moon or Cool. For Epub I use Mantano because of the collection features and the sort by series option which I have yet to find in any other reader app.

Thanks
Pete

 

[Petrah]

One problem I have with Calibre is that it is slow.

I don't like the way that Calibre copies all your books into its own filing system, using its own indexing, naming conventions, etc.

I can also gripe that conversions aren't always smooth, but realistically I know there are dozens of ways formatting can go wrong.

Besides which, the publishers aren't all that concerned about making their e-books look pretty, much to my consternation.

I've not yet encountered any lag from the software. I click on it, it opens the list of 657 ebooks fully and completely without hesitation or lag.

Not sure what you mean about the indexing. It has a feature to edit meta data to edit naming and other things, so the books can be indexed any way you like. Currently mine are indexed by series.

I think 99% of the issues people have with Calibre can be resolved by learning how to use the software. It is daunting at first, but simple once you learn how and realize you can do just about anything you want with it.